602 research outputs found

    The Tech Company: On the neglected second nature of platforms

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    The unprecedented rise of startups such as Google or Amazon has spurred an ongoing debate on the conceptualization of the corporate model these firms represent. Thus far, attention has centered on the analysis of their product and market strategies highlighting their platform nature as common feature and its defining characteristic. By applying and scaling the platform business model these companies have been able to capture value created outside the firm. The focus on the platform nature and the evolution of their external ecosystems, however, has left the work that is done inside these companies to create and provide online platforms largely unnoticed. Against this background, the article seeks to contribute to the debate by analyzing the inner mode of production as an essential component of their corporate model. The second nature of online platform firms, it is argued, is that they are tech companies. Building on this, the article aims to reconstruct how as tech companies they have learned and perfected to continuously develop and operate the internet applications that power their online platforms at global scale

    Where to place inaccessible subjects in Dutch: The role of definiteness and animacy

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    Cross-linguistically, both subjects and topical information tend to be placed at the beginning of a sentence. Subjects are generally highly topical, causing both tendencies to converge on the same word order. However, subjects that lack prototypical topic properties may give rise to an incongruence between the preference to start a sentence with the subject and the preference to start a sentence with the most accessible information. We present a corpus study in which we investigate in what syntactic position (preverbal or postverbal) such low-accessible subjects are typically found in Dutch natural language. We examine the effects of both discourse accessibility (definiteness) and inherent accessibility (animacy). Our results show that definiteness and animacy interact in determining subject position in Dutch. Non-referential (bare) subjects are less likely to occur in preverbal position than definite subjects, and this tendency is reinforced when the subject is inanimate. This suggests that these two properties that make the subject less accessible together can ‘gang up’ against the subject first preference. The results support a probabilistic multifactorial account of syntactic variation

    THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COUPLE OBSERVATIONAL CODING SYSTEM FOR COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

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    Many romantic couples integrate text and computer-mediated communication (CMC) into their relationship dynamics, both for general relationship maintenance and for complex dynamics such as problem solving and conflict. Romantic couple dynamics are interactional, dynamic, and sequenced in nature, and a common method for studying interactions of this nature is observational analyses. However, no behavioral or observational coding systems exist that are able to capture text-based transactional couple communication. The main purpose of this dissertation was to develop an observational coding system that can be used to assess sequenced computer- mediated, text-based communication that takes place between romantic partners. This process included assessing couples’ text communication to determine how verbal and non-verbal communication behaviors are enacted in CMC, modifying an observational coding system, and establishing reliability and validity of the revised coding system. Secondary data was utilized, including 48 logs of romantic couples engaging in problem-solving discussions using online chatting for 15 minutes, where a log of the conversation was saved for future research purposes. For this dissertation, the researcher evaluated the dynamics in these logs to determine if behaviors and sequences were similar to basic romantic relationship dynamics that are present in face-to-face (FtF) couples’ dynamics. The researcher determined that the dynamics between CMC and FtF were similar, and that modifying a couple observational coding system would be appropriate. The Interaction Dimensions Coding System was selected for use and modification for this study, and the training manual and codebook were updated to integrate CMC examples. Multiple avenues of assessing face validity were also pursued and feedback from the coding team and original authors of a couple coding system were integrated into the modified coding system. The modified coding system, IDCS-CMC, was used to code 43 text-based chat logs. A team of 4 coders was trained on the coding system, where they provided ratings from 1 to 9 on each partner for different dimensions of communication behaviors that were observed and they also rated each couple on 5 dyadic categories of relationship functioning. Interrater reliability was assessed throughout the training and independent coding process using the intraclass correlation coefficient. Results indicate that good or excellent interrater reliability was established for the individual dimensions of Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Problem Solving, Support/Validation, Denial, Conflict, and Communication Skills and for the dyadic codes of Positive Escalation, Negative Escalation, Commitment, Satisfaction, and Stability. There were only two dimensions that resulted in fair or poor interrater reliability, which were Dominance and Withdrawal, both of which warrant additional study in how these dynamics are enacted in and coded in CMC. Overall, the IDCS-CMC demonstrated good interrater reliability, and construct validity was established for the coding system in a variety of ways. Construct validity was established by assessing face, content, and convergent validity. Face validity was established by eliciting feedback on the IDCS-CMC from the coding team as well as one of the authors of the system used to inform the development of the IDCS-CMC. Content validity was established by assessing the degree to which the couples in the chat logs engaged in conversations of a similar nature in their real lives, and also by determining the degree to which the couple participants followed instructions to focus on a problem-solving topic during the chats. Convergent validity was assessed by comparing the IDCS-CMC dimensions and positive and negative communication composite scores to a measure of relationship satisfaction. Overall, this dissertation details the process by which a couple observational coding system was developed and tested, and puts forth a methodological tool that can be used to better assess transactional use of CMC by romantic couples by researchers as well as practitioners and therapists

    Size Matters: Microservices Research and Applications

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    In this chapter we offer an overview of microservices providing the introductory information that a reader should know before continuing reading this book. We introduce the idea of microservices and we discuss some of the current research challenges and real-life software applications where the microservice paradigm play a key role. We have identified a set of areas where both researcher and developer can propose new ideas and technical solutions.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1706.0735

    Eventual Consistent Databases: State of the Art

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    One of the challenges of cloud programming is to achieve the right balance between the availability and consistency in a distributed database. Cloud computing environments, particularly cloud databases, are rapidly increasing in importance, acceptance and usage in major applications, which need the partition-tolerance and availability for scalability purposes, but sacrifice the consistency side (CAP theorem). In these environments, the data accessed by users is stored in a highly available storage system, thus the use of paradigms such as eventual consistency became more widespread. In this paper, we review the state-of-the-art database systems using eventual consistency from both industry and research. Based on this review, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of eventual consistency, and identify the future research challenges on the databases using eventual consistency

    Together Alone: The Effects of Phubbing in a Romantic Partnership

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    Partner phubbing has been defined as an individual distracted by their phone or someone who would rather be on their phone than interact with the people in front of them. In most romantic partnerships, phubbing is directly connected to relationship satisfaction and can be linked to how frequently phubbing occurs in the union. Several research studies provide qualitative data on how phubbing negatively influences romantic relationships. 97% of the population admit that phubbing has lowered the connection quality with their partner. Phubbing can lead to jealousy, declining mental health, partner surveillance, conflict, separation, reciprocal phubbing, and adaptation. This research aims to discover how phubbing affects relationship satisfaction, whether the expectations of interpersonal communication contribute to the adverse effects of being phubbed, and how the interaction adaption contributes to or affects relationship satisfaction
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